better balance between planting and other 

 programs. These "other" prcgroms include 

 lake building, acquisition of fishing access, and 

 chemical treatment to eliminate undesirable 

 fish so desirable species can be replanted. 

 Highest priority will be given to preservation 

 and restoration of fish habitat; and where pos- 

 sible, improvement of fish habitat. 



Montana Cooperative Fisheries 

 Research Unit 



On July 1, 1963, the Montana Cooperative 

 Fisheries Research Unit came into being. It is 

 supported jointly by the Montana Fish and 



Game Department, Montana State College and 

 U. S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. 

 The unit is located at Montana State College, 

 Bozeman. Its purpose is multiple: training of 

 professional fisheries workers, research on 

 fisheries problems, and demonstrating fisheries 

 principals to other agencies, landowners, and 

 the public. Fisheries units were established 

 in several other states at the same time as in 

 Montana and are comparable to Cooperative 

 Game Research Units which play an important 

 part in the game management programs of 

 many states. 



Fish Hatcheries 



Taking fish spa 



The Montana Fish and Game Department 

 operates nine fish hatcheries located at Ana- 

 conda, Arlee, Big Timber, Bluewater (Bridger), 

 Emigrant, Great Falls, Lewistown, Libby and 

 Somers. The potential production of any hatch- 

 ery is controlled by water quality, temperature 

 and volume. These are most favorable at 

 Lewistown, Anaconda, Bluewater and Great 

 Falls. Thus these are the best stations and to- 

 gether with Arlee produce over 90% of the 

 catchable-sized fish used in management pro- 

 grams. Arlee is the brood station for rainbow 

 trout. A high-quality brood stock of these fish 

 has been developed at Arlee and this station 

 now produces all the rainbow eggs the depart- 

 ment requires. Prior to the development of this 

 brood, eggs were provided by trapping wild 

 stocks and by direct purchase from out-of-state 

 sources. Not only do we now have better 

 quality eggs, but the supply is more depend- 

 able and the cost of eggs has been reduced. 



Water temperature and volumes are not 

 conducive to high fish production at Emigrant, 



Big Timber, Somers and Libby. When these 

 stations were built, trout planting consisted pri- 

 marily of eggs and fry, so water temperahires 

 (and therefore trout growth rates) were not con- 

 sidered important. Also, at the time these sta- 

 tions were built the hauling of large numbers 

 of fish for great distance was almost impossi- 

 ble and it was considered necessary to have 

 many small hatcheries scattered throughout the 

 state, each with a small distribution area. To- 

 day it is known that larger-sized fish must be 

 planted in most Montana streams and in many 

 of the lakes to realize a better return of these 

 fish to the creel. Also today the department has 

 large, efficient distribution units which can 

 transport fish in good condition across the en- 

 tire state. Thus the rainbow production pro- 

 gram no longer needs widely scattered, small, 

 cold-water stations, and Emigrant, Big Timber, 

 Somers and Libby are used for other purposes. 

 At the Libby station the fisheries division 

 is developing a brood stock of westslope cut- 

 throat trout. This species is needed for north- 

 western Montana and no other source presently 

 exists except wild stocks. The Somers station 

 collects the eggs required from wild fish — cut- 

 throat, grayling and kokanee. Some of these 

 are hatched at Somers and some are distrib- 

 uted to other stations. The Emigrant and Big 

 Timber stations raise some rainbow. Their cold- 

 er water is utilized in connection with one of 

 the bigger production stations to arrive at a 

 proper sized fish for some special purpose. 

 These are required at a different time of the 

 year than such a sized fish could be produced 

 if held entirely at a warm-water station. Emi- 



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